2000's Notable Deaths In Sporting World

Aug. 26: Henry "Bunny" Austin, who teamed with Fred Perry to win four Davis Cup finals in a row between 1933-36 in a golden era of British tennis, at 94.

Aug. 31: Ron King, 74, a former professional cyclist, died just minutes after carrying the Olympic flame on the 85th day of the torch relay in Australia.

Sept. 1: Willard "Bubba" Scott, a key defensive player at Southern California in the late 1960s, at 53.

Sept. 3: Clyde Sukeforth, a former major-league catcher and Brooklyn Dodgers scout who helped set the stage for Jackie Robinson to break baseball's color barrier, at 98. Among the players he signed were Don Newcombe and Roberto Clemente.

Sept. 4: Jim Ward, who at 77 became the oldest athlete to finish Hawaii's Ironman competition, the most difficult triathlon of all, at 83.

Sept. 4: Merrill "Pinky" May, who played third base for the Philadelphia Phillies for five seasons and was the father of former major-league catcher Milt May, at 89.

Sept. 5: Vernon Dancer, a harness driver, trainer and breeder who was recently nominated for the sport's Hall of Fame, at 77.

Sept. 5: George "Moose" Musso, a lineman who played on four Bears championship teams and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, died at 90. Musso, who played on both the offense and defensive lines, was with the Bears from 1933-44. He played in seven NFL championship games under Bears founder and coach George Halas, including the 73-0 thrashing of the Washington Redskins in 1940. He was the first player to win All-NFL honors at two positions, at tackle in 1935 and at guard in 1937.

Sept. 7: Hyginus Anugo, 22, a promising 200- and 400-meter Nigerian runner who had participated in the World Junior Championships in 1996 in Sydney, was struck by a car and killed while training in Sydney.

Sept. 17: Nicole Reinhart, 24, a two-time U.S. National Track bicycle racing champion. Sept. 21: Warren Rutledge, one of the winningest high school basketball coaches in the country, at 69. Rutledge had 949 victories in 43 years at Benedictine in Richmond, Va.

Sept. 23: Aurelio Rodriguez, a model of consistency at third base for the Detroit Tigers during the 1970s, at 52. He finished with a .237 average with 124 home runs and 648 RBIs in 2,017 games.

Sept. 23: Bob Hurt, the driver who broke his neck trying to qualify for the 1968 Indianapolis 500 and became a paraplegic, at 61.

Sept. 24: Jerry Claiborne, a University of Kentucky player and coach who was elected to college football's Hall of Fame, at 72.

Oct. 8: Edie Payne, who ran sprints in the 1928 Amsterdam Games and was Australia's oldest living Olympian, at 94.

Oct. 10: Dick Oland Klein, founder of the Bulls in 1965, at 80.

Oct. 11: Fred Williams, a standout defensive tackle at the University of Arkansas who played 12 years with the Bears, at 71. Williams' last game with the Bears was on Dec. 29, 1963, when the Bears beat the New York Giants 14-10 for the NFL title.

Oct. 14: Tony Roper, 35, NASCAR trucks series driver, died hours after a fiery crash in the O'Reilly 400 at Texas Motor Speedway.

Oct. 14: Wayne Bailey, 47, died hours after crashing during qualifying for the IHRA World Finals at Red River Raceway in Gilliam, La.

Oct. 14: Art Coulter, a Hall of Fame defenseman who played for the Blackhawks and New York Rangers, at 92. Coulter was with the Hawks from 1931-36. He played the last five years of his career with the Rangers, retiring in 1942. He played on Stanley Cup championship teams in 1934 with the Hawks and in 1940 with New York.

Oct. 17: Harry Cooper, Hall of Fame golfer who won the first Vardon Trophy for the lowest average score and had 32 victories on the PGA Tour, at 96.

Oct. 17: Leo Nomellini, a two-way Hall of Fame player who starred for the San Francisco 49ers from 1950-1963, at 76.

Oct. 19: Gustav Kilian, a German cycling legend, at 92.

Oct. 25: Vern Wolfe, who guided Southern California to seven men's NCAA track championships during his 22 years as coach, at 78.

Oct. 25: Robert Benson, 24, a featherweight boxer from Saugus, Mass. He had a professional record of 14-0-1.

Nov. 2: Anders Gernandt, a two-time Olympic equestrian rider, at 80.

Nov. 5: Harry Taylor, who broke into the major leagues as a 28-year-old teammate of Jackie Robinson with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, at 81. He finished with a career record of 19-21 and a 4.10 ERA.

Nov. 7: Glenn E. Seidel, who quarterbacked three undefeated Minnesota Gophers football teams in the 1930s, at 86.

Nov. 12: Sandra Schmitt, 19, a freestyle skiing world champion, was among the victims of the cable car fire disaster in the Austrian ski resort of Kaprun.

Nov. 16: Larry Donald, editor and publisher of Basketball Times who was honored by the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1998, at 55.